Method and machine for similarly arranging open-topped containers or the like



To' Vl BRATOR,

APH] 23, 1963 A. M. DoNoFRvlo 3,086,639

`METHOD AND `MACH-HMS FOR SIMILARLLY ARRANGING OPEN-TOPPED .CONTAINERS`OR THE LIKE Filed May 2, 3.960 '6 Sheets-'Sheet 1 fINVENTOR. -ALFONSOM. DONOFRIO April 23, 15963 A. M. DoNoFRlo 3,086,639

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR ASIMILARLY ARRANGING OPEN-TOPPED CONTAINERS ORTHE LIKE Filed nMay '2, '1950 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ALFONSO M. DONOFRIO April 23, 1963 A. M. DoNoFRIo 3,086,639

METHOD AND MACHNE FOR SIMILARLY ARRNGING OPEN-TOPPED CONTAINERS OR THELIKE Filed May 2. 1960 6 SheetsFSheet 5 ALFONSO M. DO NQFR IO BYQQM@Apnl 23, 1963 A. M. DoNoFRlo 3,086,639

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SIMILARLY RRNGING QPEN-TOPPED CONTAINERS 0R THELIKE Filed May 2. 1960 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 im L - INVENTOR.

ALFONSO M. DONOFRIO BY @m #62W .CTI

April 23, 1963 A. M. DoNoFRxo METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SIMILARLY ARRANGINGOPEN-TOPPED CONTAINERS OR THE LIKE 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 2, 1960INVENTOR.

ALFONSO M. DONOFRIO April 23, 1963 A. M. DoNoFRlo 3,086,539

METHOD AND MACHINE; FOR SIMILARLY ARRANGING 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 ALFONSO M.DONOFRIO QM (62% A United States arent 3 686,639 METHOD AND MACIHNE FORSIMILARLY AR- lLAKNI'GING OPEN-TGPPED CONTAINERS OR THE Alfonso M.Donofrio, Toledo, Ghio, assignor, by rnesne assignments, to Silver CreekPrecision Corporation, Silver Creek, NX., a corporation of New YorkFiled May 2, 1950, Ser. No. 26,067 19 Claims. (Cl. 198-33) This methodrelates to a method and a machine for similarly arranging relativelysmall articles such as containers, and, more particularly, relates to amethod and mechanism for erecting indiscriminately arrayed articles suchas open-topped containers so that all of such containers wind up on afilling table or the like with the same ends turned upwardly. The methodand apparatus `according to the invention is designed .to arrangearticles, each of which has la body portion of -generally uniform crosssection, and an outwardly extending peripheral lip or other protrusionat or near one end, the minimum horizontal dimension of the lip orprotrusion across the article and the height dimension of the articlebeing different and the article body extending between substantiallyparallel planes of its bottom and its top, with `a major axis, orgenerally central line of the body, extending normal to at least theplane of one of its ends, i.e., its top or bottom. As used herein, theterm minimum horizontal dimension of the lip across the article (orcontainer) means the minimum length of a horizontal projection of theouter edge or edges of the outwardly extending lip, protrusion or seriesof protrusions and this distance is equal to the spacing between ya pairof parallel plates 4brought into contact with the article and parallelto its major axis.

Various mechanisms for sorting and arranging containers or the like havebeen proposed in the past in tan effort to effect automation in thefilling of such containers. Although many of these mechanisms haveproved successful in accomplishing this purpose, the cost of suchmechanisms, due to their relative complexity, is often prohibitive oftheir use. Further, many of thev prior art devices intermittently failto successfully complete the intended operation of disposing thecontainer open end up in order to receive the filling material wherebythe substantially continuous surveillance of a skilled operator isnormally required.

lt is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention toprovide an improved container arranging or erecting mechanism.

lt is a further object of the invention to provide an extremelyeflcient, yet relatively inexpensive erecting mechanism, which mechanismis capable of uninterrupted operation for substantially indefiniteperiods of time withont disposing a container wrong side up on a fillingtable or the like.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism forsimilarly orientating or arranging containers ofthe class describedwhich is dependable and lcontinuous in operation, and which involves aminimum of moving mechanical parts which are likely to require frequentrepair or replacement.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a containererecting mechanism which is so constructed that containers may berandomly dumped into a hopper at one portion of the mechanism and thecontainers will exit from another portion of the mechanism with theiropen ends all facing in the same direction.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method forarranging randomly disposed articles into position with the same end ofall of them turned in the same direction.

More particularly, a further object of the invention is the provision ofa machine of the character described having novel, continuous travelingconveyor means including a grooved edge adapted to receive containersfrom a trough operatively associated with a supply hopper, the conveyingmeans being effective to thereafter selectively deliver such containersto `discharge means for nal orientation thereof.

Other objects and advantages will in part be apparent and will in partappear hereinafter.

F or a better understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be made to the following detailed description andaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation of a machine embodying the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 2 2 of FlG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. l and shown on an enlarged scale;

FIG. '4 is a still further enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectionalview taken along the line 4 4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, detailed view in perspective showing a portionof the `apparatus illustrated in FIGS. l, 2 and 3;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view taken along the line 66 of FIG. l and shown on an enlarged scale;

FiG 7 is a fragmentary, detailed view in perspective of parts of theapparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1, Zand 6';

FIG. 8 is a further enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectional view takenfrom the position indicated by the line 8 8 of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary, detailed View in perspective of a portion ofthe apparatus illustrated in fFIG. 1 and constituting a continuation ofthe right side of FIG. 7; FIG. 9 also showing a portion of a turntableas illustrative of mechanism onto which containers are delivered byapparatus embodying the invention.

In general, the apparatus embodying the invention as shown andldescribed herein comprises a supply hopper for the reception ofindiscriminately arrayed containers and from which the containers tumbledownwardly onfto a plurality of horizontally extending spaced rods whichare vibrated in such a manner as to move the containers forwardly alongthe rods and across the machine. These rods deliver the containers lto asubstantially vertically disposed trough comprising a pair of parallelplates which are spaced from each other a distance slightly greater thanthe lesser of (l) the minimum horizontal dimension of the lip across thecontainer and (2) the height dimension of the container; but the platesare spaced a distance which is less than the greater of such twodimensions. The Itrough includes means which cooperate with the platesto dispose containers received therebetween with their midpoints lyingin a plane equidistant between the two plates and, in the specificembodiment of fthe drawings, with major axes parallel to each other, butwith their tops or bottoms randomly directed oppositely to each other.The term midpoint as used herein means a point on the major axis of thearticle or container which is midway between the two ends of the body.

A continuous, traveling conveying means is positioned so that at leastone edge thereof passes adjacent the outlet of the trough at a iirstpontion of its path of move.- ment, with the plane of the edge beingdisposed perpendicularly to the major axes of the containers during suchportion of its path of movement. The edge of the conveying meanscomprises two elements which in (turn have a series of substantiallyidentical, similarly spaced notches, the elements being arranged inclose side-by- Vside, in-phase relationship during the said rst portionof the path of movement whereby a groove is formed in the edge of theconveying means by each pair of aligned notches. The Width of thenotches and resulting grooves, in the direction along the first portionof the path of movement thereof, is greater than the minimum horizontaldimension of the container body adjacent its lip but less than theminimum horizontal dimension of thelip across the body, whereby thecontainers are guided into the notches with their bodiesreceived in thenotches, their tops and bottoms randomly directed oppositely to eachother and their lips randomly disposed adjacent the outer surfaces ofthe conveyor edge elements. 'Ihe mechanism additionally includes meansfor separating the edge elements fromeach other in a direction parallelto the major axes of the containers during a second portion of the pathof movement of the conveying means wherebyv each container is pulled outof the notch in one of the elements and carried with the other of theelements, depending upon which side of the edge of the conveying meansits lip is disposed. Finally, means are provided near the second portionof the path of movement of the conveying means for removing containers,from each of the elements separatively from the containers of the otherof the elements and for turning the separatively removed containersrelative to each other into similar arrangement.

As previously mentioned, the machine according to the invention isadapted to similarly arrange or erect lippedarticles in which theminimum horizontal dimen- 'sion Yof the lip 'of each article across thearticle and the height of the article are different. This difference indimensions is, in effect, the only restriction or limitation on the sizeor shape of articles which can be successfully orientated by the instantmechanism, as will subsequentlyj become apparent. In this respect,although the invention will be specically described in connection withthe erecting of cylindrical containers, it should be understood thatsuch description is for purposes of illustration only and is not to beconsidered as limitative. Further, as was previously mentioned, themachine accord- Y ing to the present invention is adapted for use incombination with othermachinery or apparatus such as, for example,mechanisms for delivering up ended containers to a filling machine. Noillustration, however, is made of'the particular machine or apparatuswhich will be associated with the mechanism constituting the presentinventionsince such associated apparatus does not form a part of thepresent invention.

K Referring now more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 11indicates generally the supporting structure or frame for the apparatusand includes a leg or post 12, one of which is not shown, at eachcorner` thereof. VA supply hopper, indicatedV generally at 13, issupported at the top of the frame 11 for receiving a plurality of smallcontainers 14 in random disorientation. The hopper 13 has a rearwardlysloping bottom 15 (FIGS. 2 and 3), the rearmostv edge of whichterminates short of a vertical rear wall 16 and then extends verticallydownwardly a short distance to provide a laterally extending Vchute 117across the rear of the apparatus.

= Each of the containers 14 is of the type previously described, i.e.,each comprises a body portion and a lip adjacent its open top, theminimum horizontal dimension of the lip across the container and theheight of the container being different. The specific apparatusembodying the invention as shown in the drawings is designed forhandling containers 14 each of which is cylindrical and includes a bodyportion .14a (FIGS. 4 and 5) and an out- Wardly extending peripheral lip14b adjacent its open top, the outside diameter of lip 14b of each ofthe containers 14 being greater than the height of the container. Inthis specific container 14, the lip 14b is made in two pieces, eachlessY than semi-annular Vin extent and functions as a thread for ascrew-on cap. It is to be noted, that the lip, or outward protrusion,can be continuous or can be made up of a series of protrusions, such astips or knobs.

A fringed gate 18 (see FIGS. 2, 3 and 4) is mounted at the rear edge ofthe hopper bottom 15, forming a front side for the chute 17 andcomprises a plurality of resilient fingers 19 for resisting the passageof more than one layer of the containers 14 forwardly out of the chute17 and onto a plurality of laterally spaced, forwardly extending,parallel rods 20. The rod-s 20 are spaced from each other a distanceslightly smaller than the height of the containers 14 so as to preventthe containers 14 'from falling down' between the rods 20 and aremounted upon a vibrator plate 21. The vibrator plate 21 is driven by aconventional vibrating mechanism indicated generally at 22, whichmechanism is mounted on suitable support posts 23l comprising a portionof the main Iframe 11. The mechanism 22 vibrates the rods 20 so as tomove the containers 14 forwardly along the rods toward the lfront of theapparatus whereupon they fall into a trough indicated generally at 24(see FIGS. 3 and 5).

The front ends of the spaced parallelrods 20 are welded or similarlymounted on tips 25 (see FIG. 5) between adjacent semicir-cular grooves26 that are cut in an upturned ange of an angle bar 27. The bar 27extends -across the machine adjacent the rear side of the Vtrough 24 andsupports a horizontal shelf 28 which lies in a plane lower than thebottom of the grooves 26 and which overlies the rear side of the trough24. When the containers 14 engage the curved edges of the grooves 26 thegreat majority of them are turned to fall onto the shelf 28 with theiropen ends either up or down. Vibration of the shelf 28 with the rods 20causes the containers to slide oi of the front edge of the shelf 28 andto fall onto ya curved apron 29 which forms the rear of the trough 24.Almost all of the containers land on their top or bottom surfaces ratherthan on their cylindrical sides and slide forwardly along the apron 29into the chute 24, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5 by the containerslabeled AJ Y Y The apron 29 curves forwardly and downwardly until itreaches parallelism in a vertical plane and the lower portion of acurved plate 30 defining the front portion of the trough 24. Theparallel bottom parts of the apron 29 and plate 30 are spacedhorizontally a distance only slightly greater than the lesser of theminimum horizontal dimension of the lip 14b across the container 14 andthe height dimension of the container. In the particular embodiment ofthe invention illustrated, the lesser dimension is the height of thecontainer 14. The horizontal distance between the apron 29 and plate 30is smaller than the greater of such dimensions, such greater dimensionin this case being the outside diameter of the lip 14b.

Due to this narrow restriction, the containers 14 can only pass throughthe lower `extension of the trough 24 lying on their sides as shown bythe container indicated in the drawings at B.

An agitator indicated generally at 31 runs constantly throughout thesorting operation in order to agitate the containers 14 falling into thetrough 24 to prevent them from becoming cocked Vand jammed between thekapron 29 and plate 30 and to assure that they pass through the trough 24in the desired arrayed position. The agitator comprises an endless chain32 having a plurality of spaced fingers 33 xed thereto, and is driven bymeans of a motor 34 suitably mounted on the frame 11 to move the fingers33 vhorizontally through the mass of containers at the top of the trough24.

The trough 24 empties downwardly into a compartment 35, defined by apair of parallel plates 36 and 37 which are spaced from each othersubstantially the same distance as are the plates 29 and 30 i.e., asuicient distance to allow the containers 14 to fall therebetween lyingon their cylindrical sides, but an insucient distance to permit thecontainers to fall therethrough lying either on their tops or bottoms.

annesse 'Ille rear plate 36 substantially closes the front of theapparatus between the bottom Of the trough 24 and a lower, horizontalframe member 38. The front plate 37 of the compartment 3S extendsdownwardly parallel to the plate 36, but covers only about half of thearea of the plate 36. In the particular embodiment illustrated in thedrawings, the front plate 37 is formed of a rigid, substantiallytransparent material so as to enable the viewing of the orientatingoperation in this area.

A downwardly sloping rod 39 extends across the machine from the upperright end of the trough 24 (FIG. l) between the plates 36 and 37 and hasa return end 40 at a point about -two-thirds or three-quarters of thedistance across the machine. A curved rod 41, also extending between theplates 36 and 37, forms the left side and a part of the bottom of theremaining portion of compartment 35. The rods 39 and 41 close the bottomof the space between the plates 36 and 37 except for an opening,generally indicated at 42, which overlies a portion of the path ofmovement of a continuous conveying means such as a multi-part wheel,indicated generally at 43.

The wheel 43 is mounted between the plates 36 and 37 by a shaft 44 (FIG.6) suitably journaled by hearing 4S carried by the plate 36 andextending through a notch 46 (FIG. 7) in the right edge of the plate 37.The wheel 43 comprises two circular discs 47 and 48 of the same shapeand size and mounted side-by-side. The rear disc 47 is fabricated fromany suitable stiff material, such as steel, while the front disc 48 isfabricated from a exible and resilient material such as rubber orplastic. The discs 47 and 48 have a series of substantially semicircularnotches 49 and 5l? in their edges and the discs are mounted inphase onthe shaft 44 so that a single groove is formed by each pair of alignednotches 49 and 50. The diameter of the notches, i.e., the width thereofalong the path of movement of the wheel 43 is slightly larger than theminimum horizontal dimension of the container body 14a adjacent its lip14b, which, as previously mentioned, is merely the body diameter; butthe notch width :is slightly smaller than the minimum horizontaldimension of the lip 14h across the container, i.e., the particularoutside diameter of the lip 14b.

The containers 14 which are arrayed -between the plates 36 and 37 movethrough the opening between the return rod end 4t) and the rod 4l anddrop into the grooves formed by the aligned pairs of notches 49 and 5dwith their open ends at either the front or back of the compartment 35,in other words, with their lips 4b randomly disposed adjacent the outersurfaces of the two discs 47 and 48.

A hand knob l (FIG. 6) is secured on the front of the shaft 44 and -apulley 52 is keyed on the shaft 44 `and Vdriven by a belt 53 which isalso engaged with a pulley 54 mounted on jack shaft 55. The shaft S5 isgeared through a suitable reducer indicated generally at 56 toa driveshaft S7 of a motor S3. The motor 53 and reducer 56 are mounted on ahorizontal tilting table 59, connected by a rod 6i) to a bell crank 61anda handle 62 at the front of the machine for clutching the drive ofthe wheel 43.

A downwardly and forwardly inclined separator 63 (FIGS. l, 6 `and 7) ismounted on the front of the front wall 36 by a bracket 64. The separator63 extends upwardly between the discs 47 yand 48 in the upper rightquadrant of rotation or travel thereof at the right of the front plate37. The separator 63 has a curved upper end 65 to approximately parallelthe curvature of the discs 47 and 48 but does not extend above thebottoms of the notches 49 and 59 therein so that no contact is made bythe separator 63 with the containers 14 carried in the notches 49 and56. The separator 63 .is canted outwardly and downwardly away from theplane of the stiff disc 47 at an angle of approximately l() to 30degrees. As the wheel 43 rotates, the resilient disc 48 is flexed awayfrom the stilf disc 47 lbeing thus separated axially therefrom in thisportion of its path `of movement. The separator 63 is angled forwardlyenough to separate the discs 47 and 48 a distance slightly greater thanthe vertical height of the containers 14 at the point of furthestseparation of the discs 47 and 4S (see FIGS. 6 and 8). As soon as thediscs 47 and 48 rotate beyond the lower edge of the plate 63, the exibleor resilient disc 48 returns to its side-byside adjacent relationshipwith the stiff disc 47.

A pair of arcuate, axially diverging guides 66 (FIG. 7) overlie theperipheries of the discs 47 and 4S during that portion of their travelwhen they are being separated from each other in order `to prevent thecontainers 14 being jarred upwardly out of the notches 49 and Sil.Similarly, an arcuate guide 67 extends along adjacent the notches 50 ofthe flexible disc 43 to prevent the containers i4 carried thereby fromslipping axially out of the notches 50 toward the front and containers14 retained by their lips 14h in the notches 49 of the stiif disc 47 areprevented from rearward displacement by the plate 36. The guides 66 and67 are secured to posts 68 which are mounted on the plate 36.

A pair of inclined, open `guideways, generally indicated at 69 and 7G,extend away from the ends of the arcuate guides 66 and 67 at the pointat which the discs 48 and 49 are separated from each other to thegreatest extent. Each of the guideways 69 md 76 consists of four rails71, 72, 73 and 74, or 75, 76, 77 and 7S, respectively. The two`guideways 69 and 7G are `generally parallel to each other with theirupper inner rails 71 and 75 (FIG. 7) 'connected at their upper ends andextending between the discs 47 fand 48 to form a ydiverter 79. As thecontainers 14 are moved by the discs 47 and 48 with their open topsturned outwardly, their bottoms engage the diverter 79 and eachcontainer 14 is guided into the upper open end of the respective one ofthe guideways 69 and 70. The lowermost rail 74 or 73 of the guideways 69or 70 extends into the space between the separated discs 47 or 4S`adjacent the inner surface of the disc and to a depth approximately thesame as the depth of the notches 49 and Sti. As each of the containers14 is moved in its disc 47 -and 4S, it engages the respective rail 74 or78 and is guided out of the notches 49 or 56 whereupon it runs bygravity down the guideway. The guideways 69 and 70 are mounted on ltheplate 36 by a bracket 89 which spaces the four rails of each guidewayand which has openings 31 therethrough generally corresponding in shapeto the outline of the containers 14 as they are oriented by the rails atthe bracket location.

Each of the openings 31 has a notch S2 :at its outer bottom side throughwhich the lips 14h of the containers i4 pass. The other two rails 72 and73 0r 76 and 77 provide the other two margins of the guideways. Therails of the guideways 69 and 70 are held in proper spacing by spacersS3, S4, and 86 (FIGS. 7 and 9) which are located along the guideways.The guideways 69 and 70 are twisted inwardly toward each other downtheir lengths so as to rotate or turn the containers i4 in oppositedirections. The containers 14 received in the guideway 69 originallyhave their open tops turned backwardly against the plate 36 and, yasthey roll down the guideway 69, are rotated upwardly 'toward the frontto turn their tops up. Conversely, the containers 14 received intheguideway 7? originally have their open tops :turned to the front of theapparatus and, as they roll down the guideway 7d, are rotated in areverse direction. Comf parison of the relative orientation of thecontainers 14 indicated at (2, D, 5, and F in FIGS. 7 and 9 shows theopposite twist of the guideways 69 and 70 and how the containers :14 areerected as they roll down their lengths. The two guideways 69 and 70 areheld in spaced relationship `at their lower ends 'by a spacing plate 87and an end gate 88 both of which rest on' the surface of the elementonto which Ithe containers f4 are discharged, in this case a turntable39. At the spacing plate 87, the containers 14 in both of the guideways69 and 76 are erected with their open tops turned up. If the contairrers14 were to be discharged onto a linearly moving conveyor, the rails offthe guideways wouldV extend only a short distance beyond the plate S7.In the embodiment of the drawings, however, the guideways 69 and 76 turnthrough 'approximatelyV a 90 turn and :the containers 14 are moved outof the gate 88 by the turntable 89. The rails 71 and 75, which :at theirupper ends are brought together to form the diverter '79 (FIG. 7), arecut off short just above the turntable 89 at their lower ends (FIG. 9).

The turntable 89 is rotatably mounted on a vertical post 90 and isdriven by a capstan 91 (FIG. 1) mounted on a shaft 92 of a motor 93which is shown as mounted on la swinging plate 94. The plate 94 pivotson a ver- Itical axis and is connected by a link 95 to a hand lever V96at the left front of the machine so that the capstan 91 may be movedinto and out of engagement with the turntable 89. In order to fullydisclose all theV novel features of the invention, a complete operatingcycle of the particular embodiment shown will now be described. Aplurality of containers 14 is poured in the hopper 13' and feddownwardly therein under the action of gravity to the laterallyextending `chute 17 at the rear of the apparatus (FIGS. 2 and 3). Thefringed gate 18 operates to resist the passage of more than one layer ofcontainers 14 ourt of the chute 17 and onto lthe vibrating rods 20. VTherods 20 carry the containers 14 forwardly across the machine (FIGS. 4and 5 through the grooves 26 in the bar 27, onto the shelf 28 whencethey fall onto -the arcuate surface of the apron 29 and slide into thetrough 24. While almost all of the containers slide over the apron 29 oneither their xtops or bottoms, a few may hang up. The n'gers 33 (FIG. 1)move continuously through the upper, wider part of the trough 24 to liftand reorient any cocked containers 14. Because of the spacing betweenthe plates 36 and 37 (FIG. 6), the containers 14 fall through 'thetrough 24 on their sides and become piled or stacked up in this:arrangement in the compartment 35 with their major axes parallel toeach other.

The lowermost layer of containers 14 in the compartment 35, i.e., thosecontainers lying on the rods 39 and 41, falls by gravity and .the forceimposed thereupon by the weight of the containers resting above, intothe grooves in the edge of the wheel 43 which l.are formed bythe'circumferentially aligned notches 49 and 50 in the dises 47 and 4S'.A switch 97 having a feeler 98 extends into the compartment 35 in orderto sense the presence of containers 14 therein and to control thevibrator 22 to prevent the compartment 35 from becoming overstocked withcontainers 14.

All of the containers 14 falling into the grooves in the edge of thewheel 43 are arranged with their open ends turned forwardly, i.e., withtheir lips 14b located adjacent the outer surface of the disc 48 (seecontainers designated G in FIGS. 7 and 8), or their open ends turnedback.- wardly, i.e., with their lips 14b adjacent the outer surface ofthe disc 47 (see containers designated H in FIGS. 7 and 8). Thecontainers 1'4 remain in this arrangement as the flexible disc 48engages the canted surface of separator 63, which bends the exible disc48 away from the rigid disc 47 (FIGS. 6, 7 and 8). If the container 14is positioned in the groove with its lip 14b adjacent the outer surfaceof the rigid disc 47, it remains with the rigid disc 47 due to its lippreventing forward movement thereof with the resilient disc 48(container H, FIGS. 7 and 8). If, on the other hand, the container ispositioned in the groove with its lip 14b adjacent the outer surface ofthe exible disc 48, such container is pulled forwardly by the separatingdisc 48, out of the notch l49 in the stiff disc 47 and will be carriedby such resilient disc (container G, FIGS. 7 and 8). l

The containers 14 which are retained by the stiff disc 47 are dischargedtherefrom into the upper end of the f guideway 69 (FIG. 7) upon beinglifted out of their notches by contact with the lowermost rail 74 of theguideway. In a similar manner, the containers 14 which are carried bythe resilient disc 48 are discharged into the upper end of the guideway70. y

At the point where the discs 47 and 4S discharge the containers 14 intothe open upper ends of the guideways 69 and 70, the containers 14 areall arranged in parallelism, with their open tops opposed and lying ontheir sides. It is, therefore, only necessary to then erect thecontainers by twisting them in opposite directions through an angle of`approximately This is accomplished by the twisting of the rails formingthe guideways 69 and 70, the containers 14 being turned thereby as theyroll down the guideways and being discharged therefrom with their openends turned upwardly. The containers 14 are then ready for delivery to afilling apparatus or the like.

The particular embodiment of the invention which has been described isdesigned for handling open topped cylindrical containers having radiallyextending lips adjacent their open tops and height less than thediameter of their lips.

Containers or other configurations, such as rectangular or square inplan, or having heights greater than the minimum horizontal dimensionsof their lips, can also be arranged and oriented by mechanisms embodyingthe invention, it being necessary only that the containers have lips orother outward protrusions at or near one end, or at least nearer to oneend than the other, and that the two critical dimensions be dilerent.zontal dimension of the lip or protrusion across thereontainer must beeither larger or smaller than the height of the container. Of course,when containers of cross section other than circular or square are beinghandled, Ithe grooves in the edge of the conveying means must beappropriately shaped.

While conveying means consisting of a wheel formed from two discs isshown inthe drawings, various other conveyors, such as belts, links,etc., may be employed; the inventive concept comprising the tworelatively movable notched elements which receive the articles, moveaxially relative to each other, Vand separately discharge the containersas determined by the side on which their lips are located. Furthermore,such conveying means may be disposed or arranged at any desired angle tothe outlet portion of the trough or compartment, it only being necessarythat the edge portion thereof containing the notches or grooves forreceiving the containers from such trough or compartment be located inand move along a plane which is substantiallly perpendicular to themajor axes of the containers at that portion of its travel where thecontainers are inserted in the notches. Although constructing one of theedge elements from a resilient material is a preferred manner ofproviding for the sep-aration thereof from the other of thevedgeelements, due to the simplicity thereof, any other separation systemsuch as diverging guides or springs canV be employed if desired.

Throughout this specification and in the appended claims the inventionis described as relating to the arrangement and/ or orientation ofcontainers, described as open topped and, for the most part, the lipshave been stated to be located at or adjacent the open tops. Ofcourse,vthe lip or ridge could also be located at or near the bottom-ofsuch a container and the upper part of the container body could have asmooth or substantially uniform -upper portion. In handling such acontainer, a machine embodying the invention would function asdescribed, the change being merely to twist the container The minimumhori-Y Machines embodying the invention may also be ernployed fororienting objects other than containers; such as, for example, flangedbushings or bearings, circular items with smaller diameter hub portionsand other objects meeting the primary definition:

(l) A body having width, height, and depth.

(2) An outwardly extending peripheral lip, or other protrusion orperipheral series of protrusions located at or nearer one end of thebody, i.e., top or bottom in the finally arranged and oriented position.

(3) A difference between- (a) Minimum horizontal dimension of the lip orprotrusion across the body, and

(b) Height of the body when in the arranged and oriented position.

It is the difference between dimensions (a) and (b) which enables thearrangement of the objects with their major axes parallel and their topsand bottoms (or ends) extending in opposite directions. It is Point 2above which enables the randomly and oppositely directed objects to beaxially moved by the separable elements of the conveying means and theirdischarge into the twisted guideways by which they are all arranged withsame end up or pointing inthe same direction.

All of the foregoing modifications and variations are considered to bewithin the purview and scope of the invention as defined by the appendedclaims and the method of the invention comprises operative steps carriedout by various mechanisms designed according to such modifications andvariations.

-I claim:

l. A method of `orienting identical articles, each having top and bottom-ends lying in at least generally parallel planes, a `body of generallyuniform cross section with peripheral surfaces extending at leastgenerally parallel to its major axis, from a random disposition to aposition wherein all of said top ends extend in the same direction, saidarticles also having portions protruding outwardly from said peripheralsurfaces and all -spaced axially away vfrom the midpoints of saidarticles in the same direction axially, said method comprising arrangingsaid articles in a first position with their top and bottom endsrandomly extending in opposite directions and located in spaced parallelplanes and their midpoints located in a common plane whereby each of afirst group of said articles has its said protruding portion offset fromits said midpoint in a first direction and each of a second group hasits said protruding portion offset in the opposite direction, graspingeach of said first group of articles adjacent the inner side of saidprotruding portions and moving each of said articles in said first groupof articles relative to said second group of articles along its saidaxis and turning each of said articles in said first group and each ofsaid articles in said second group until the said fiat ends thereof allextend in the same direction.

2. A method according to claim l and `the step of grasping each of saidarticles in said second group of articles adjacent the inner side ofsaid protruding portions and holding said articles against yaxialmovement while moving said articles in said first group of articles.

3. A method of orienting identical containers each having top and bottomends lying in at least generally parallel planes, and a body of uniformcross section with peripheral surfaces extending parallel to its majoraxis, from a random disposition to a position wherein all of said topsextend upwardly, said containers also having lips protruding outwardlyfrom said peripheral surfaces adjacent said tops, said method comprisingarranging said containers in a first position with their tops randomlyextending in opposite directions and located in spaced parallel planesand their midpoints located in a common plane whereby each of a firstgroup of said containers has its said lip offset from its said midpointin a first direction and each of a second group has its said lip offsetin the opposite direction, grasping each of said first group ofcontainers adjacent the under side of said lips and moving each of saidcontainers in said first group of containers relative to said secondgroup of containers along its said axis and turning each of saidcontainers in said first group and each of said containers in saidsecond group until the `said top-s thereof all extend upwardly.

4. A method for similarly arranging identical articles each having abody of substantially uniform cross section normal to its major axis,top and bottom ends lying in at least generally parallel planes, a lipat least near one of its ends, and a difference between the height ofsaid body and the minimum width of said lip across said body, saidmethod comprising, arranging said articles with their top and bottomends randomly directed in opposite directions and lying in spacedparallel planes, placing each of said articles in a pair of notchedelements the notches of which are aligned and spaced from each otheraxially of said article, with the lips of said articles randomlydisposed adjacent the outer sides of said notched elements, moving saidelements in a path generally normal to the axes of said articles `andconcomitantly separating said elements axially of said articles forwithdrawing each of -said articles from the notch in that one of saidelements against the outer surface of which the lip of such article isnot disposed, separately removing articles from each of said separatedelements and oppositely turning such separately removed articles untilthe top ends thereof are directed in the same direction.

5. A method according to claim 4 including moving the notched elementsthrough circular neighboring paths, axially displacing one of saidelements through a portion of said path and removing the articles fromeach of said elements while in said axially separated portions of saidpaths.

6. A method according to claim 4 including arranging the articles withtheir major axes parallel at the time of arranging said articles withtheir top and bottom ends in parallel spaced planes.

7. A machine for similarly arranging containers, each of said containershaving a body portion, two spaced generally parallel ends, one of whichis a top, and an outw-ardly extending peripheral lip -adjacent one ofits ends, the minimum horizontal dimension of said lip across said bodyand the height dimension yof said container being different, saidmachine comprising, in combination, a hopper for the reception ofindiscriminately arranged containers, a trough comprising a pair ofpar-allel plates spaced from each other a distance slightly greater thanthe lesser of Such dimensions but smaller than the greater of suchdimensions, means cooperating with said plates for disposing saidcontainers therebetween with their tops and bottoms randomly directedoppositely, said trough having an Iinlet operatively associated with`said hopper for receiving containers therefrom and an outlet,continuous traveling conveying means, one edge of said conveying meansbeing operatively associated with said ioutlet at at least a firstportion of its path of movement, the plane of said edge being disposedperpendicularly to the major axes .of the containers during at leastsaid first portion of its path of movement, said edge of said conveyingmeans comprising two elements, the edges of said elements having aplurality of substantially identical, similarly spaced notches, saidelements being arranged in side-by-side, -in-phase relationship duringsaid first portion of said path of movement whereby a groove is formedby each pair of laligned notches, the width of said notches in adirection yalong said first portion of said path of movement beinggreater than the minimum horizontal dimension of said container bodyadjacent said llip and less than the minimum horizontal dimension ofsaid lip, said outlet including means for guiding said containers intosaid notches with their bodies received in said notches and their lipslrandomly disposed adjacent the outer surfaces of said elements, meansfor separating said edges of said elements from each other during asecond portion ofthe path of movement thereof, and means at such secondportion of said path of movement for removing con- Itainers from each`of said elements separately from the containers removed from the otherof said elements and for turningsaid separatively removed containersrelative toV each other into similar arrangement.

8. A machine in accordance with claim 7 in which one of said elements iscomposed of a flexible material.

9. A machine in accordance with claim 8 in which said means forseparating the edges of said elements comprises a canted plate whichextends between the edges of said elements during said second portion ofthe path of movement thereof.

l0. A machine in accordance with claim 7 in which said means forremoving containers from each of the elements includes a pair ofoppositely 'twisted guideways.

11. A machine in accordance with claim 10 in which each guidewayconsists Iof a plurality of spaced rails, said rails being respectivelyadjacent the top end, bottom end and both sides of the container movablealong said rails, and said rails being twisted spirally around a medianline along the length of the guidew-ay.

12. A machine in accordance with claim 7 in which said continuoustraveling conveying means comprises a rotatably mounted Wheel. Y

13. A machine in accordance with claim l2 in which said wheel comprisesa pair of circular discs of the same size and shape mounted axiallyside-by-side, one of said 'discs being composed of a stili material andthe other of said discs being composed of a ilexible material, both ofsaid discs having a plurality of circumferentially aligned notches intheir'peripheries whereby a groove is formed by each pair of alignednotches.

' 14. A machine for similarly` arranging open-topped 'containers earchof said containers having a cylindrical body portion and an outwardlyextending peripheral lip adjacent its open top, the diameter of said lipacross said container being greater than the height of said container,said machine comprising, in combination, a hopper for the reception ofindiscriminately arranged con-.1 Ytainers, a trough comprising a pair ofparallel plates spaced from each other a distance slightly greater thanthe height of the containers but smaller than the diameter of the lipsof such containers, means cooperating withsaid plates for disposing saidcontainers with their major axes parallel to each other, said troughhaving an inletoperatively associated with said hopper for receivingcontainers therefrom and an outlet, a wheel, means for rotatablymounting said wheel so that the periphery thereof passes directlyadjacent said outlet with the plane of such periphery being disposedperpendicularly tothe major axes of the containers, means for rotatingsaid wheel, saidwheel comprising two discs of the same shape v'and sizemounted axially side-by-side, at least the periphery'of one of saiddiscs being composed of a resilient material and the other of said discsbeing composed of a 'riphery of said one disc from the periphery of saidstiif vdisc during a portion of the path of travel of the wheelwhereby'containers with their lips adjacent the outer sur- `face of thedisc having the resilient periphery are carried therewith and containerswith their lips adjacent the 'outer surface of the stii disc remain withsaid stiff disc,

'and means effective to separately receive containers disposed in thenotches of said separated discs and to turn said containers relative -toeach other with their open tops similarly arranged.

15. In a machine of the class described having a supply hopper foridentical articles to be similarly arranged and mechanism for feedingarticles from said hopper and orienting said articles into iirstposition with their major axes parallel and their tops and bottomsrandomly directed in opposite directions, each of said larticles havingbody of substantially uniform cross section normal to such major axisand an outwardlyextending peripheral lip at least nearan end of saidbody, the improvement comprising a pair of parallel spaced elementsmovable through paths at least a Ifirst portion of which passes nearsaid mechanism in planes normal to such major axes of said articles insuch iirst position, the edges of said elements toward said mechanismhaving a series of spaced notches therein with the'notches in said pairof elements being aligned and in phase, meansY for guiding articles fromsaid mechanism in said rst position into said notches with their lipsrandomly disposed adjacent the outer surfaces of said elements, meansfor moving said elements, means for relatively separating the notchededges of said elements axially from each other a distance suicient toremove each article from that one of said elements adjacent the outersurface of which its lip is not disposed, means adjacent a secondportion of the path of movement of said conveyor Where the edges of saidelements are so separated for separately removing said articles fromsaid elements and means for oppositely turning said separately removedarticles for arranging al1 of said articles with their tops directed inthe same direction.

16. Apparatus for orienting identical articles each of which has atleast one substantiallyrilat end, a major axis at least generally normalto said end and a body of generally uniform cross section withperipheral surfaces extending at least generally parallel to said majoraxis, from a random disposition to a position wherein all of said endsextend in the same direction, said articles also having portionsprotruding outwardly from said peripheral surfaces and all spacedaxially away from the midpoints of said articles in the same directionaxially, said apparatus comprising means for arranging said articles ina rst position with their ilat ends randomly extending in oppositeplanes and their midpoints lying in a common plane, whereby each of afirst group of said articles has its said protruding portion oifset from`its said midpoint in a -iirst direction and each of a second group hasits said protruding portion offset in the opposite direction, means forengaging each of said first group of articles adjacent the inner side ofsaidrprotruding portion, means for moving said engaging means in thedirection of said protruding portion of each of said articles in saidrst group of articles into contact with said protruding portion of eachof said articles in said rst group to move each of said articles in saidlast named group along its axis relative to said second group ofarticles, means for turning each of said articles in both of said groupsuntil the flat ends thereof all extend in the same direction.

17. Apparatus for orienting articles of the class described comprising,in combination, a pair of parallel, horizontally spaced, verticalplates, saidV plates being spaced horizontally .a distance equal to theheight of said articles, means for feeding articles randomly toward thespace between said plates, means for arranging said articles betweensaid plates with their corresponding ends randomly directed in oppositedirections, means for serially releasing articles from between saidplates, means for shifting said articles relative to each other in thedirections of their corresponding ends and means for turning saidaxially shifted articles relative to each other for directing theircorresponding ends in the same direction.

18. Apparatus according to claim 17 in which the 13 means for shiftingthe articles relative to each other comprises an element for graspingthe -bodies of all articles having their corresponding ends directed inone direction and moving said articles axially relative to the remainderof said articles.

19. A machine for similarly arranging containers, comprising a hopper, apair of parallel plates operatively associated with said hopper forreceiving containers therefrom, means cooperating with said plates fordisposing said containers therebetween with their tops and bottomsrandomly directly oppositely, a continuous traveling conveying means,one edge of said conveying means being operatively associated with saidplates at at least a rst portion of its path of movement, the plane ofsaid edge being disposed perpendicularly to the major axes of thecontainers during a-t least said first portion of its path of movement,said edge of said conveying means comprising two elements, the edges ofsaid elements having a plurality of substantially identical, similarlyspaced notches, said elements being arranged in side-by-side, inphaserelationship during said iirst portion of said path of movement wherebya groove is formed by each pair of aligned notches, means for guidingsaid containers into said notches with their bodies received in saidnotches and their ends randomly disposed adjacent the outer surfaces ofsaid elements, means for separating said edges of said elements fromeach other during a second portion of the path of movement thereof tomove one of said elements into engagement with a portion of eachcontainer in a group having the same ends facing in the same directionto shift each container in said group along its major axis, and means atsuch second portion of said path of movement for removing containersfrom each of said elements separately from the containers removed fromthe other of said elements and for -turning said separatively removedcontainers relative to each other into similar arrangement.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,382,863 Decker et al Aug. 14, 1945 2,714,439 Prickett et al. Aug. 2,1955 2,924,356 Pollmann et al Feb. 9, 1960 2,937,738 Albertoli et al May24, 1960

1. A METHOD OF ORIENTING IDENTICAL ARTICLES, EACH HAVING TOP AND BOTTOM ENDS LYING IN AT LEAST GENERALLY PARALLEL PLANES, A BODY OF GENERALLY UNIFORM CROSS SECTION WITH PERIPHERAL SURFACES EXTENDING AT LEAST GENERALLY PARALLEL TO ITS MAJOR AXIS, FROM A RANDOM DISPOSITION TO A POSITION WHEREIN ALL OF SAID TOP ENDS EXTEND IN THE SAME DIRECTION, SAID ARTICLES ALSO HAVING PORTIONS PROTRUDING OUTWARDLY FROM SAID PERIPHERAL SURFACES AND ALL SPACED AXIALLY AWAY FROM THE MIDPOINTS OF SAID ARTICLES IN THE SAME DIRECTION AXIALLY, SAID METHOD COMPRISING ARRANGING SAID ARTICLES IN A FIRST POSITION WITH THEIR TOP AND BOTTOM ENDS RANDOMLY EXTENDING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AND LOCATED IN SPACED PARALLEL PLANES AND THEIR MIDPOINTS LOCATED IN A 